Arnold & Boyle Rivers

 Arnold River Confluence

 Boyle River

 Arnold River

Boyle River gorge

This weekend I went kayaking with the kayaking club to the west coast (Arnold River) and Lewis Pass (Boyle River). The water levels were pretty low, but that was ok because it was a little less crazy because of that. The Boyle river has two very beautiful gorges.

Pinchgut Hut

Pinchgut hut is in the Oxford forest just an hour and a half from Christchurch. The walk is along the Okuku river- which is a stunning little river with lots of beautiful green pools to swim in. It was fantastic on such a hot day! 

Surfing at Sumner

Well we finally took our camera surfing- not easy to get pictures when I don't stay standing for too long! It's lots of fun. We are so glad to have the beaches clean and open this year. It was tough times after the earthquake when we couldn't go swimming due to the sewage contamination in the ocean around Christchurch.

Lake Christabel

 View from the top- Lewis tops

Rough Creek

Lake Christabel

Lake Christabel Hut

This was a two day walk up the tops in Lewis Pass, then down to the hut, and out through the valley of the blue grey river. It was a beautiful walk. The lake itself is big for a NZ lake and reminded me a little of home. Saturday was a very beautiful day, but we were a bit concerned about a huge storm front that was supposed to hit on Saturday night. Luckily it didn't even hit until halfway through the walkout on Sunday- but we could see the river rising rapidly as we walked. It was a good thing we chose to go through the valley that day and not take the route over the mountain tops- the wind up there would have made it treacherous!

Clarence River

A huge rainstorm hit the mountains last week and flooded all the rivers- to the point where many of them were raging torrents. Going from their usual 50-80 cubic meters per second to as much as 2000 cubic meters per second. It's hard to imagine! One river, however, which is usually too low to kayak, was raised from it's usual 15 cubic meters per second to 20 cubic meters per second- making it perfect for kayaking. Another hot sunny day! The weather has just been remarkable.

Island beaches

 Looking back at Lyttleton

 Swim beach at Quail island

Jetty

Well, just Quail Island- which is a tiny recreation reserve in Lyttleton Harbour. I had been there before- but Brad hadn't. It was a hot day- an excellent day for a boat ride and a beach!

Wildlife Parks

 New Zealand Pigeon (commonly called Wood pigeon). 

These are big (50 cm tall) fruit eating birds. We hear these pigeons more often than see them when we are hiking-  their wings make a very distinctive "wooshing" sound when they fly.

 Springboks- I finally know what the South African Rugby team is named after!

 Feeding the New Zealand Longfin eels at Willowbank. It was very sad to hear someone had come in and aimlessly killed a fair number of them. They are as endangered than the Great Spotted Kiwi but unfortunately they are not protected so there will be no repercussions for the killers. They also only breed once (migrating all the way to Tonga)- at the end of their lifetimes.

White faced heron. He/she was pretty aggressive!

There are two wildlife parks close to Christchurch. We managed to visit both over the Christmas holidays.
Willowbank Wildlife park has primarily native species. It is in a beautiful natural setting with a creek running through. You can feed the birds and the wild eels and of course some farm animals.
Orana Wildlife park has exotic animals from around the world- mostly from the African Savannah. (It felt like the Savannah on Friday when we went too- 28 degrees and not much wind or shade!)
Both parks have Great Spotted Kiwis of course- but since they are nocturnal, their enclosures are dark and photos aren't allowed.